Singamas sales soar 400pc, sees box shortage and mega boom ahead

HONG KONG-listed Singamas Container Holding has posted a 2010 net profit of $92.5 million, wiping out a $51.9 million 2009 loss, the company announced.


Because of a global recovery in demand, the world's second largest box maker after Shenzhen's China International Marine Container (CIMC), also posted a 400 per cent year-on-year increase in revenue to US$1.37 billion.


Singamas sees a boom time ahead, saying demand will soar because few replaced old containers during the downturn; more box-hungry mega postpanamax ships are coming into service, and new strings to emerging markets have elevated demand just as slow-steaming has absorbed more boxes than ever before.


For container production, Singamas output in 2010 was 636,306 TEU compared with 86,600 TEU in 2009, increasing more than six fold.


The company now plans to open two new plants next year in Qidong, a city in Jiangsu province, opposite Shanghai on the north shore of the Yangtze.


One factory will specialise in reefers, while the other one in both standard dry freight boxes and specialised units.


"In light of strong demand in the Shanghai region, we looked closely at our resources in this area and recognised the need to expand our production capacity," said the company chairman Chang Yun Chung.


This move marks the shift of industrial production from the coast to inland China, said the company statement. "The location of these two new factories could take advantage of the Yangtze River to satisfy the container demand in the central and western PRC (mainland China), maintaining the group's competitiveness in the region."
(Source:http://www.schednet.com)